


What's in your head, Zombie?

by Linked_Aurica



Series: People can only live by forgetting the bad [4]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Gen, Military, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Service Dogs, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Time (Linked Universe)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:47:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28489302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linked_Aurica/pseuds/Linked_Aurica
Summary: Time and his Service Dog Rusl
Relationships: Malon (Legend of Zelda)/Time (Linked Universe)
Series: People can only live by forgetting the bad [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2010550
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ajdhish
> 
> This might be the most serious fic I've written. 
> 
> Also PSA: respect service dog handlers!

_ Bombs.  _

_ Violence.  _

_ Death.  _

It's all Link knew. It existed in his dreams, his nightmares. His body responded when his mind remembered. The same movie played over and over again, like a broken record. 

_ War.  _

Termina was hell on earth. Bodies strewn around, some unrecognizable, some looked like they were just sleeping. The sounds of guns and bombs were overwhelming. 

He had good days. The days where he could do normal things that everyone did. Grocery shopping, going for a walk. But soon that changed and he couldn't leave the house without feeling like everyone would attack him. 

His wife would help him through his days. She was his rock, his light. 

And then that light went out. Malon died unexpectedly and it left Link utterly heartbroken. 

He was inconsolable, falling into a deep pit where he just didn't see a way out of. He locked himself up, he didn't leave the house. 

The image of Malon laying in her bed, all life sucked out of her, would not leave his mind's eye. It was like a part of him was taken away and those events replaced that hole. 

He would never find someone to love like he loved Malon. 

__

That changed when Malon's father checked up on him. 

"Link, you need help. I can't stand seeing you like this," Talon said, looking at Link with concern. "I don't know what the point is anymore! Malon is gone! I have nightmares daily! I wake up and for a solid minute, I don't know where I am," Link said, burying his face in his hands. 

Talon let out a sigh, not really knowing what to say or do. He looked at the floor and then up to Link who was scratching himself furiously. 

Talon grabbed his arms, but Link's nails were sharp enough to leave marks and this was the sign that Talon had to take the man to a hospital. 

Link didn't fight against Talon when he was pulled along. His mind was somewhere else. A place where he would see Malon in all her beauty, helping him, guide him. 

But that was gone,  _ she was gone,  _ and he was alone.

_ And he would die alone. _

__

Link was evaluated, his wounds taken care of, and sent off to the psychiatric ward of the hospital. From there, he was taken to an inpatient housing and stayed there for six months. 

After that, he was back home… Alone again. It was after his psychiatrist brought news, that something changed. 

"I've evaluated you for a while now and seeing you are from the military, have seen things and based on the diagnosis, it's better that you have a service dog."

Link stared at the man in front of him. He would have a companion who would help him more than any amount of therapy could do. 

_ Is this the road to a better life?  _

_ ___ _

_ Two years later _

_ ___ _

  
  


Time, as he was dubbed by his friends, who weirdly all had the name Link, didn't think his life would turn out the way it did. 

As the oldest in the group, he sometimes felt a bit overwhelmed at the chaotic energy the rest had. His dog Rusl, a German Shepherd, was his trusted friend for over two years now and helped him cope with it. 

"What's up, Old Man?" 

Warriors walked in, startling Time in the process. "Hylia, Warriors, you scared me," Time said, letting out a deep breath. "Oh sorry, I forgot! Kick me please," Warriors said while holding out his leg. 

"You're fine. I was just thinking," Time smiled. However, Warriors caught on how the man would look away. "Something is going on, isn't there?" he asked. Time looked back up to Warriors, but looked back to Rusl who was laying down between his legs. 

Time didn't even notice his reaction to Warriors' question until he felt Rusl on him. He then noticed he had been scratching his leg and arm. Warriors was still standing where he stood, concern was clearly visible on his face. 

"I'm sorry," Time finally managed to utter. "Today - today is the three year anniversary of Malon's death. It has never been easy." 

Warriors knew that Time found his now late wife, and he knew of the other things going on, but it still shook him to his core. 

"I'm sorry. I know we'll never be a replacement for Malon, and we don't want to. But we can still try and help," Warriors said. Time just nodded. He didn't know what to say or what to do. 

"And you have Rusl."

Time chuckled. "I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for this good boy." He scratched Rusl behind the ears and it earned him being jumped by the German Shepherd and licked all over his face. 

"Thank you for the kisses, but we need to get ready." 

"Are the adult responsibilities calling?" Warriors asked. "Unfortunately, yes. Grocery shopping," Time replied, giving a face that clearly said:  _ I don't want to do this! _

"Good luck, Old Man," Warriors said, and walked into the kitchen where he was originally going to. 

__

Good luck was indeed the correct wording. Time walked into the grocery store, having his mind set on going in, getting what he needed and getting out. 

Being in crowded places was hard, and his mind gave him the constant warning of danger that wasn't there. Rusl definitely helped, but couldn't save Time from one specific danger. 

People who didn't know when to stop. 

"Excuse me, Sir, but animals can't be in this store," a woman walked over to where Time was looking at what he was going to get. 

He looked up and was met with a woman who clearly didn't work at the store. "I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" he asked, confused as to why this woman was even talking to him in the first place. "Yes, you shouldn't have that animal in here," the woman said. 

"I'm sorry, but I need my dog," Time said. "He's my service dog, if you must know." 

The woman gave him a nasty look. The next thing she said, made him want to scream: "You don't look disabled."

"I don't need to explain to you, ma'am," he said, and tried to walk away. Unfortunately, this woman was determined to let her disapproval known. 

"Why do you have this dog? Do you have papers to prove it?" 

At this point, Time was seething, but tried to keep himself calm. He already felt Rusl at his leg, alerting to whatever response his body was having to this interaction. 

"Ma'am, I don't need to show anything. In fact, what you're doing is illegal. You're not supposed to ask me  _ why  _ I have my service dog. Only if he is and what his tasks are," he explained. "Now if you would leave me be, I have stuff to do." 

With those words said, Time turned around and walked off, hoping the woman would just go away. 

"You are just a lazy bastard that lives off government money and you just don't want to work! It's people like you that my money gets wasted on!" the woman screamed, catching the attention of a nearby group of teenagers. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" one girl exclaimed, dropping whatever she was doing and walked over to Time and the enraged woman. "This man did nothing to you, and you just assume he's taking your money? Because he has a service dog?" 

The woman let out a huff. "Look at him! He's just doing this for attention," she exclaimed, enraging the girl even more. 

"You don't know his story! You don't know what  _ hell _ he might have seen for him to be needing a service dog!" 

The rest of her words were lost to Time. His mind couldn't keep up with the yelling, and with a snap, he was back in Termina, his friends yelling at each other, when their base was bombed. He hadn't even noticed that he walked off to a quieter place and sat down, until he felt Rusl again trying to get him back to the present. 

His ears were ringing, the world was a cacophony of colors and sounds and everything blended together. One one hand he knew he was safex but on the other hand, he was back to the hell that was Termina. 

The smell of death assaulted his senses, including that of Malon. All he saw were his friends…  _ Dead.  _ His Wife…  _ Dead.  _

And then something that never had happened; he saw ash and fire around him. 

_ Goddess, no!  _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit happens

After chewing out the woman they dubbed 'Karen', the two teens turned around and not seeing the man they helped. "Where'd he go?" 

"Cathy, I think he just went onto his way to shop." 

"Jess, that woman was out of place and I want to make sure he's okay."

Jess let out a sigh and was about to say something when they both saw a familiar dog coming up to them. 

"Wait, ain't that the service dog we just saw?" Jess hadn't even asked the question or Cathy was already running. 

"Cathy, wait!" 

"No, Jess, if I've learned anything, it's to follow this dog! Something could have happened!" Cathy yelled back, before continuing running.

A few aisles further, she saw the man laying on the floor, seemingly unresponsive. 

"Fuck."

__

Time didn't know what was happening. One moment he saw fire, and the next it was dark. He didn't really remember what had happened before, just yelling. 

And there was still yelling. Someone was calling out to him. He felt pressure against him, and something wet on his face. 

Upon opening his good eye, he was met with Rusl furiously licking his face. He forced himself to focus on it, but couldn't for long and was swallowed by the darkness. 

__

Warriors was preparing something to eat when his phone went off. He grabbed his phone and saw it was an unknown number. 

He picked up regardless. 

"Hello?" 

A feminin voice sounded on the other side. "Is this the emergency number for Link Kokiri?" Fear clawed at his stomach. "Yes, it is, is everything okay?" he asked.

"I'm the manager of Malo Mart. We currently have your friend here unresponsive. We called emergency services. Could you come here as fast as you can?" 

Warriors felt like he was choking. "Oh shit. Yes, I'm on my way!" He hung up, when Twilight walked in. "Twilight, get the keys! We're needed at Malon Mart!" 

Twilight, utterly confused, just looked. "Don't just stand there! Time needs us!" Warriors exclaimed. "Did something happen?" Twilight asked, grabbing the keys off the counter. 

"I don't know what happened. But they found him unconscious and they've called an ambulance. We need to go  _ now _ !" 

That had Twilight moving and within a minute they were in the car and on their way to the store. 

They pulled up to the store in what felt like an hour, but was in reality only ten minutes. Twilight stopped the car in front of Malo Mart and Warriors almost jumped out. In the distance, he already heard sirens but didn't pay attention to that; he needed to find Time. 

He got the attention of the first employee he saw. "Excuse me, I was called because of an emergency. Your manager called me," he said, feeling like he was talking a million miles per minute. At that moment, said manager walked up to the entrance where Warriors was still standing. 

"I'm sorry, are you the manager? Who called me?" he asked the woman. 

"Yes, I did. Follow me," she said. Warriors almost sprinted and Twilight had trouble keeping up. 

They turned in an aisle that was a little in the back, and Warriors immediately recognized the figure on the floor. Rusl was laying next to Time, guarding the man from onlookers, by blocking most of the view. 

"Time! Goddess!" 

It was all Warriors could exclaim before he dropped on his knees next to his friend. 

__

Time became aware of sounds again and the first thing he heard was his name. With a lot of effort, he opened his eye and was met with Warriors' panicked face." Time! Please tell me you can hear me," he said. 

"Wha-" 

It was the only thing he could mutter, when more people surrounded him. Warriors was replaced with a man, who Time recognized as a paramedic. 

"My name is Dan, can you hear me?" Dan asked. Time nodded, slow but surely. His body felt utterly spent, but he still couldn't exactly remember why. 

"Can you tell me what happend?" 

Time couldn't answer that. He didn't remember going anywhere. But that was normal for him. At this point he knew that he was hanging between the line of being checked up and sent home or taken to the hospital. 

He didn't want to go back to that place. 

"I- I just need… a moment.," was what he finally could say. He wanted a quieter place. Away from prying eyes. 

But Dan was determined to find out that his patient didn't have any serious injuries. "A check up at the hospital would benefit you right now."

"I'm not in pain. My neck doesn't hurt, my head doesn't hurt. I'm just sore and tired," Time replied, feeling his lucidity slowly return. 

Dan still wanted to do some small tests. "Can you sit up?" Time needed a moment to figure out his limbs and how they worked, before he slowly sat up. 

Rusl was at his side in seconds and laid across Time's legs. Now that he sat, he felt the extent of what possibly had happened and all blood drained from his face, leaving him light-headed. Spots danced in his vision and the floor seemed to move under him. 

The next thing he was aware of, were people lifting him onto his legs and placed him into a chair. He looked up and saw he was in an office, the same EMT squatted in front of him. He didn't remember the part of being brought to this place. 

He didn't remember. 

"I want to go home," was the first thing he said when he finally came back to himself. "I want to go home and sleep." 

He was mentally and physically exhausted. Whatever his mind had done, it left him dead on his feet. 

"He's with you?" 

Warriors looked up when that question was asked. "Yes, I am," he said hastily. "You can take him home," Dan said. 

Time let out a sigh of relief. He didn't want to get back into the psych ward and locked up for days, because of his broken mind. "I'm sorry for wasting your guy's time… You shouldn't be worried about an ex-soldier who lost his mind  _ and  _ his eye," Time said, chuckling dryly. 

Twilight let out a sigh and the paramedics took their stuff with them and left. Time hugged Rusl, feeling still extremely tired." Let's go home, so you can sleep," Twilight said. Time nodded. Slowly, he stood up and hoped his legs would hold him. 

They did and slowly the trio left the store after they bid their thanks to the store manager. 

__

At home, Four and Sky were lounging on the couch, when the door opened and Warriors, Twilight and Time walked in. The latter looked absolutely exhausted. 

"Is everything okay? I heard a car speed off an hour ago," Sky commented. "I lost my mind in the store… These two had to save me," Time said with a tired voice. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep for the next three years," he added and walked up stairs. 

Never in his whole life did his bed look that inviting, and he let himself drop on it after taking off Rusl his vest but without bothering to get changed. Rusl joined him soon after, snuggling against Time's side. 

And for the first time in years, Time had a dreamless sleep. 


End file.
